Pray for Israel? The Impact of Hookers, Hash and Organized Crime on the Youth in Israel

In Donna Rosenthal’s chapter “Hookers and Hash in the Holy Land”, the author explores the underworld of Israeli society.  This includes hookers, pimps, drugs, drug runners and transnational criminal networks.  In her discussion she explains Israel’s contribution to both drug trafficking and human trafficking in that it serves as a venue through which drugs are smuggled into Europe and sex workers are smuggled in to Israel to service Israeli men.  Unsuspecting Eastern European women are trafficked into Israel along with large quantities of drugs by Russian and Bedouin Israelis.   

But its not just women and drugs that are smuggled into Israel; Rosenthal also notes that smuggling operations include weapons (such as M-16s and bombs) that are sold to Palestinians in the West Bank (393).   Rosenthal argues that Israel’s sunny climate is where the “shady “ come to do to business; it has been dubbed a “mobster’s paradise” (391).

            Rosenthal suggests that Israelis have had experience with such illicit drugs as hashish since the 1967 war (391) but it was on a much smaller scale.  She points out that today, the “multi-billion dollar drug trade is a bizarre model of Middle Eastern economic cooperation” which include Jewish, Bedouin, Lebanese, Egyptian and Palestinian partners who are supplied by groups operation in Afghanistan, Syria, East Asia and South America (392).

The increase in sex workers, drugs and weapons in Israel is largely due to the increasing numbers of Russian immigrants that are involved in organized crime.  This influence is apparent in the BBC news article "How the Russian Mafia is taking over Israel's Underworld" which further illustrates Rosenthal’s point that the organized crime activities include drugs, sex workers and weapons; and according to the BBC story one can add money laundering to the list of activities.  The story notes that in 1998 an estimated 4 billion dollars had been laundered in Israel--with current estimates as high as 20 billion.   What is significant about the increasing power and influence of the Russian Mafia is that its undermines the legitimacy of Israel’s political institutions given the wealth possessed by the criminal syndicate and its potential to corrupt government officials. 

But another concern worth noting is the impact that such demographic and societal changes have had on Israel’s youth—the number of at-risk teens in Israel is increasing and more and more Israeli teens are using drugs and engaging in prostitution.  Thus there appears to be a correlation between the legalization of prostitution in 2010 and the increase in teenage prostitution.  There also appears to be a relationship between the increase in social acceptance of drugs and its availability, and the increase in drug use among teenagers.   This begs the question—what are some of the consequences this cultural shift? What impact has the liberalization of sex and drugs had on Israeli youth?

According to The Learn and Live Foundation  and The Jewish Federation of North America of the 2.3 million Israeli youths approximately 350,000 are “at risk” and 11% of Israelis that use drugs are between the ages of 12-18. A 2009 article in the Jerusalem Post reported that of the 10,000 prostitutes in Israel 10% or 1,000 of them are minors.   Additionally, a 2011 Youth at Risk report cited in the Jerusalem Post (presented by the non-profit group Elem) reports that there has been a sharp increase in minors drinking, using drugs and engaging in risking sexual practices for commodities such as cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.   
The problem of drinking, drug use and teenage pregnancy is also cited in Haaretz's online  article "Teen Pregnancy, Drug use and Drinking on the rise in Israel".    In an effort to combat such issues, the non-profit group Elem has started several campaigns including the  “up all night campaign” aimed at rescuing Israeli teens from going into the sex trade and "Friendship Vans"  that operate nightly in 18 cities and towns—going into public parks, beaches and entertainment centers, abandoned areas and prostitution haunts where at-risk teens tend to hang out. 





They offer immediate help to homeless youth by providing humanitarian aid, informal counseling and referrals to other social services.  Elem has also spearheaded the “Lights of Hope” campaign aimed at raising awareness of issues faced by Israeli.  The non-profit has also expanded the campaign on various social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. 

Critics from the various news sources cited in this blog argue that the Israeli government is failing to address the growing numbers of under-aged prostitutes and increasing numbers of teenagers that are using drugs and that the government is not well suited to address the issues.  As noted by  Yitzhak Kadman a Jerusalem-based lobbyist for the National Council for the Child,  in an era of government cuts and austerity in the areas of social spending and the availability of pornographic material that appears to legitimate sex with children it is understandable why teenage prostitution is on the rise. Add to the mix the increasing availability of drugs and a "youth culture" that accepts drug use as legitimate and normal and you have the making of a serious crises.

The serious issues affecting the future generations of Israel such as prostitution and drugs and the increasing numbers of "at risk youth" do not get much attention in Rosenthal’s chapter—she primarily focuses on the “week-end users” and doesn’t get into a discussion of these problems.  Rosenthal indicates that drug use among Israeli adolescents has become part of the “youth culture” as evidenced by research done by Yoav Ben-Dov.  This author on youth culture claims that in Israel  “there is not much shame in using drugs in Israel anymore—its out in the open” (394-395).  Indeed the chapter illustrates how in many ways Israel is facing a cultural revolution on various levels.  The question that remains is in what way has the increasing presence of drugs and prostitution that is a direct result of the increasing power and influence of the Russian mafia contributed to the problems faced by the Israeli teens?  Following what Rosenthal demonstrated in her chapter on "Hookers and Hash in the Holy Land" this blog has attempted to demonstrate that perhaps there is a relationship between the two.  The sources found online appear to be credible, although many of the news stories use the findings and statistics provided by the non-profit group Elem.